Acts of Aggression
by Aradien
Summary: No ship should go down without her captain, but the daughter of Admiral Marcus will not be so lucky. Khan/Carol AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Acts of Aggression**

_No ship should go down without her captain. But the daughter of Admiral Marcus will not be so lucky. (Khan/Carol AU).  
_

* * *

_Pain_. A searing, blinding pain radiated from the pulverized bone in her leg and soaked her system with a mixture of adrenaline and endorphins. She was fortunate to be alive, but her gratitude was buried beneath the cries of her hysterical nervous system and the fact that something far worse was brewing just a few feet away.

"Let us play this out _logically_, Mr. Spock." Hissed the voice of Khan, causing her to flinch from the palpable threat it possessed. "Firstly, I will kill your captain to demonstrate my resolve, then if yours holds I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew."

They weren't going to survive this encounter, Carol realized. She knew the feeling that overwhelmed her now. She had felt it only too often during her studies at the Academy… when the timer to detonate approached zero during a weapons simulation. She would feel a wave of resignation wash over her, shortly followed by anger at herself for not being quicker. For not being _better. _

This time, the consequences were real. This time… she wasn't walking away.

"I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle," Khan informed the Enterprise, his tone like the rumble of thunder. "And after _every_ single person aboard your ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people."

He paused then, briefly, as if to enjoy the silent terror of the hundreds of people currently at his mercy. "Now, shall we begin?"

Commander Spock had only one choice at this point. She knew this, and Khan, judging by the tug of satisfaction appearing in the corner of his mouth, certainly did as well.

"A wise choice, Mr Spock." Khan remarked, his tone now unbearably smug. Carol desperately wished she had smuggled a photon grenade with her just to be rid of _him_ and the anticipation of death. "I see all 72 torpedoes are still in their tubes. If they're not mine, Commander, I will know it."

"Vulcans do not lie." Came the Commander's monotone reply. "The torpedoes are yours."

"_Goddamit, Spock…_" she seethed, wishing now that he would have given Khan the inconvenience of waiting for them all to perish. Or, even better, activated the Enterprise's self-destruct sequence. _Anything_ was better than this…

"Well Kirk," grinned Khan, throwing the Captain to the ground. "It seems apt to return you to your crew."

When the spiraling light of a transporter beam started to circle the Captain and the man she knew only as 'Scotty', Carol couldn't help but look forwards to at least facing the end of her days surrounded by the remarkable people she had befriended. Her hopes of officially joining them had long since passed, but death in the line of duty was nothing to scoff at.

"After all," She heard the madman say, just as her companions disappeared from sight. "No ship should go down without her captain."

He _couldn't_ have forgotten about her, Carol realized with an intensifying sense of dread. A woman with vibrant blonde hair clutching a broken leg is simply not the sort of thing that goes unnoticed on the bridge of the most advanced starship in the galaxy.

She gazed up at him, merely a few steps away, and found him regarding her with glacial blue eyes.

"Carol _Marcus_," he drawled, rising from his chair. "Such an unfortunate name."

Either he took his time reaching her, or the seconds it actually took for him to reach her was perceived much more slowly by Carol. He would have towered over her even if she had been standing, which made her position on the floor even more disconcerting.

"You know what is going to happen to you." He stated calmly, as though discussing her brutal murder by his hands over tea.

"Yes, Commander." she replied shakily, hating herself for instinctively referring to him by title instead of as the monster he truly was. But when he kneeled down, his face level with hers, all emotions except fear left her mind in an instant.

Wordlessly, he lifted her from the ground. Carol bit down hard on her lower lip as her broken leg swung painfully with each of his footsteps, daring herself not to cry out as he sat her on his lap in the command chair. Images of the Enterprise and the missiles sitting in the ship's cargo bay were projected before her eyes.

"First, I want you to watch as I destroy your comrades." He spoke into her ear softly, grabbing her chin with his hand as she tried to look away. "Arm missiles and target USS Enterprise."

"_Arming missiles." _Replied the Dreadnought class ship.

She struggled against his hold, managing to tilt her head downward so that her vision held only the image of the torpedoes. The torpedoes that were flickering red.

Her body became rigid. Years of training as a weapons specialist gave you only one pressure point. One trigger that made you immediately react.

_Flickering red._

"Oh –" she caught herself fast, returning her gaze to what she had presumed was a doomed starship. But Khan had seen this breech in her typical behavior. Moving her to the side, he followed where the path of her gaze had been and noticed what he never would have before.

"JETTISON CARGO!" he roared, whipping her arms behind her back and pressing her body against the console. With an arm around her waist, he then smiled at her. And Carol was certain she had never seen anything so terrifying.

_"Hold tightly, my dear."_

* * *

**A/N:** I seem to be having too much fun with stories centering around these two lovelies. Please leave a review if you have a chance. Should also be posted to tumblr soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _I had a tremendous bout of inspiration in regards to this story following my second viewing of _Into Darkness_. I finished not only this chapter, but the next one as well. I'll wait on getting feedback through reviews before posting the other. Enjoy!_

* * *

_"Hold tightly, my dear."_

The words blared through her mind like a siren. Before she could process the reason behind Khan's warning, she felt the ground beneath her shift violently as the hull of their ship screeched in distress. The torpedoes that had been jettisoned from their cargo were still in close proximity when they exploded, knocking them and the Enterprise closer to the gravitational pull of Earth.

Carol would have been thrown to the other side of the bridge if not for the arm pinning her against the console. _His_ arm. Which grew tighter around her waist, even as the ship regained stability.

"Open a communication channel with the Enterprise." thundered Khan, his eyes gleaming with rage. Carol tried to wriggle away, but that was only effective in causing his hold on her to intensify, making it difficult to breathe.

"_Captain_, since you clearly have no idea of the lives that your first officer has just condemned to death, let me share an old saying with you," he said with deceptive calm. It was his eyes that gave away his savage intent. "_You gave me hope, and then you took it away._ That's enough to make anyone dangerous… but imagine for a moment what that would make _me._"

She screamed, ever so briefly, as her body was thrust in front on him. Warm hands then enclosed both sides of her head, causing her heart to plummet into the bottomless void of the nightmare she found herself in.

He was going to kill her like he did her father – a brutal application of pressure to the curvatures of the skull. She suspected that the blood staining his hands from Admiral Marcus hadn't even _dried _by this point…

"Since I doubt you are able to perceive or respond to this warning with your communications critically damaged, let me describe a series of events set in motion by your humiliating effort to defeat me before you are completely incinerated by your tumble into earth's atmosphere." He fumed, ignoring the dry sobs of his captive.

"First, I will murder your weapons specialist as I did her father. Then I will target Starfleet headquarters and unleash the entire payload of this vessel upon that city. When that is expended, I will return to Jupiter and reclaim the technology that I created for your empire of cowards and use it to shape a world. _End transmission._"

Carol closed her eyes, causing a single tear to escape down her cheek before striking the floor. The hard-won peace built upon the sacrifices of men and women in the Federation of Planets was about to be obliterated; her friends and family about to be nothing more than memories. All because of one man who loved his family more than _anything_.

"Any last words, Dr. Marcus?"

She felt his fingers beginning to tense within her hair. Her first instinct was to say, _"I'm sorry." _Her words would do nothing except inform this villain that she recognized the role she played in the demise of all she cherished. But as she opened her mouth to speak, another thought occurred to her.

"They're alive." She said with the tranquility of someone who had already accepted their fate. Not once did she think it would save her, nor was she certain that Dr. McCoy had the same compassion in his heart that her Captain did. But it seemed worth mentioning… and, as it turns out, perhaps even more than that.

"That is not possible," he countered. "The torpedoes' design was too elaborate. Only I could disengage their chambers from the fuselage."

Carol shook her head. A difficult tasks given its position between two hands of steel.

"I could do it. And I taught my technique to their chief medical officer. They're likely sitting right now in a remote corner of the ship." She explained, her tone dispassionate up until she felt his palms retreat from her skull.

"My crew… is aboard the Enterprise?" he demanded, leaning so close that she could feel his breath breaking against her forehead.

"Yes." She responded, holding his desperate gaze with a cold indifference. "Every man and woman that you love is on board the ship that you _damned."_

The change in Khan's composure seemed impossible. One moment, he was a calm, collected madman with a heart of flint. The next, he was like a man possessed, racing wildly about the bridge in a flurry, pressing buttons and throwing switches as if racing against a clone of himself.

"The ship's tractor beam will act against the Earth's gravitational pull, giving me more time to stabilize their warp core and take the Enterprise to safety. I will need you, Dr. Marcus," he said, stopping all that he was doing to look her in the eye. "To make the navigational corrections necessary to ensure that both our vessels are not destroyed. I will relay instructions," He said, kneeling down to pry the badge off her father's body. Despite his attempt to be discreet, Carol found herself nauseated by what little she could see of the body. "Once I beam aboard their ship."

"You understand that once the _Vengeance _is mine, you're not coming back." She explained cautiously, staggering into the command chair with her leg still howling with pain. Khan paused at the exit to the bridge, turning slowly on the spot to gaze at her one last time.

"It would be an insult to you if I expected otherwise." Was his short reply before the doors of the lift closed, removing him from sight.

It was likely the most meaningful compliment she would ever receive, Carol realized. And , despite herself, she found herself smiling because of it.

"Transporter room, on screen." She commanded, watching as Khan stepped onto the metallic pad. Within a few seconds, he was gone in a flash of spiraling light. That was her cue.

"Raise shields." She added, wanting to ensure that Khan would not be able to return. "And open a communications line with Commander Khan. I mean... " She remembered that Khan was using her father's communicator. "Open a communications line with Khan, who is using Admiral Marcus' device."

_"Shields raised. Integrity at 73%." _The starship responded.

"Dr. Marcus, do you hear me?" came the voice of Khan. She had a fleeting desire to ignore him, but as scarred and traumatized as she was by the events of the past few hours, Carol was not about to let her friends perish because of her unwillingness to collaborate with this man.

"Yes, Commander, you are coming in just fine."

"The gravitational systems have been disabled. You will need to activate the tractor beam in such as way that the Enterprise remains steady." He told her quickly. She could hear the air whipping past the augment as he ran at breakneck speed. "And it is no longer appropriate to refer to me by a false title. _Khan_ will be sufficient."

It was only years of strict professionalism at the Academy that kept Carol from rolling her eyes at that comment. She could call him whatever she damn well pleased… but not was not the time to argue with the only force in nature powerful enough to save the plummeting starship.

"Very well, _Khan_. Activate tractor beam on the Enterprise." She said, steadying her hand on the control pad.

The ship did not confirm her order verbally, but it nevertheless vibrated and emitted a pulsing blue stream at her target.

"You will need to activate reverse thrusters at 20% capacity. That should be enough to sufficiently stabilize the ship so that I can enter the warp core." Instructed Khan.

She obeyed him quickly, but followed up with an obvious question: "What on earth are you going to do in there?"

"The core is misaligned. If my crew is to survive, the acting Captain will need to have enough power to counteract the inertia of our descent."

"But can't the –"

"The upward force of the tractor beam on the hull of the ship needed to counteract the downward force of its velocity would tear this vessel apart." He interrupted swiftly, as an increasing amount of static developed on the line until communication was completely severed.

She didn't bother trying to reach him again. The interference of particulate matter in the warp core would make any device malfunction, and most of her attention was focused on adjusting the tractor beam so that the Enterprise remained steady, despite the atmosphere's insistence on pushing it every which way.

_"You are being hailed by the USS Enterprise."_

"Open a channel!" she practically screamed, enormously relieved at having someone help her manage the fates of two ships at once.

"Dr. Marcus, is that you?"

"Unfortunately, yes it is." She replied hastily, recognizing the eternally calm voice of Spock without looking at his image on the screen. "Khan is on board the Enterprise trying to save the it because I told him that his crew might still be alive over there."

"You were correct in your hypothesis, Dr. Marcus. Because of your guidance, they are currently in the medical storage facility."

"That's great, Commander," she snapped, honestly wondering if she appeared to care or if over-explaining trivial matters during life and death situations was a Vulcan compulsion. "But I can't maintain both ships like this for long."

"It seems you won't have to." Spock informed her in what sounded like a illogically _shocked_ tone. "The warp core has just stabilized. Remove your hold on the ship and we will be able to apply our thrusters."

She didn't need to be told twice. With immense relief, she disengaged the beam and allowed the _Vengeance _to hover within the Ionosphere while she regained feeling in her muscles.

As an afterthought, she attempted to reopen a communications line with Khan.

"The Enterprise is safe." She reported. Realizing that was not his particular interest, she rephrased the sentiment as, "Your crew is safe."

His only response was a ragged cough.

"Khan, are you alright?"

Another cough, and then a deep, raspy reply, "If I was alright, I would have commandeered this ship by now."

Besides affirming that saving hundreds of lives did not necessarily make you a good person, his words had the unsettling effect of raising her concern.

"What you just did would have killed a regular man, but Dr. McCoy said that your cells regenerate like nothing he'd ever - "

"I am going to die, Dr. Marcus." He told her suddenly. "Whether it is in this room at the hands of those I tried to destroy, or after a millennia within a cryotube that will eventually malfunction makes no substantial difference."

She heard doors open and the rustle of clothing. His decontamination had just been completed.

"Regarding what I did… what I planned on doing to you…" Khan's usually booming voice was barely audible. "Would you not have done the same to me if I was loved by the one who threatened to destroy all you held dear in this world?"

Under any other circumstance, she would have responded in the negative. But Carol had seen her thirst for revenge run deep at the time of her father's death. Would she have spared his crew after all the pain that their Captain had wrought on her life?

"Maybe." Was her hesitant reply.

Khan chuckled softly, sounding genuinely amused to her rather than terrifying for the very first time.

"You are very different from your father, Carol Marcus." He commented, causing a strange feeling to arise in her gut. "But this is where our paths break apart…"

_"Target Khan's location." _She only noticed that she'd said those words when he appeared on screen before her.

"Goodbye, Dr. Marcus." His voice was faint, but she it strike a nerve deep within her body. Angrily, she tried to smother any sympathy she had for this madman. If he was lucky, he would spend the rest of his days in stasis alongside his crew. If he was unlucky…

And then she wondered, very dangerously, if she would have acted similarly in his situation. If her family was being used to control her and then, if she had every reason to suspect that they had been murdered, would she act without restraint against all those who stood alongside her enemy?

The answer made itself apparent when she located Khan's crew precisely where Spock had mentioned. She marked a floor in Engineering for the seventy-two comatose men and women, and a single maximum security cell for their leader.

"Khan Noonien Singh," she then said bitterly, watching as seventy-three bodies appeared on her ship. "Consider this act of aggression against the Federation of Planets a form of mercy."

* * *

**A/N:** And so this fanfiction's title weaves its way into the story. Doctor Who fan should notice the quote from 'The Doctor's Wife'. After all, why wouldn't Khan be a Whovian? (Besides his genocidal tendencies, of course).

Please review if you have a chance. Feedback is greatly appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I am immensely grateful for all the feedback received for the last few chapters. I hope you enjoy this little taste of what is to come...

* * *

Carol Marcus had never been so overwhelmed by emotions in her entire life.

Her hands were shaking. This said a great deal in itself because as a weapons specialist, she was trained especially to _never_ let herself tremble while in the line of duty. If she had been carrying live ammunition, Carol knew for certain that she would have never quavered or flinched. But it was not simply a ticking bomb that she carried with her this time – _oh heavens no_ – it was a veritable _weapon of mass destruction _that she had just beamed aboard her ship.

The hastily put together plan she had in place was to travel to a Class M planet in a nearby system that was currently inhabited by a Neolithic race of humanoids. There, she could deposit her superhuman cargo near a place where if the Federation were to discover Khan's location, they would be unable to interfere without violating the Prime Directive.

She knew of quite a few empty, yet hospitable planets that seemed to fit soundly into her scheme, but she was playing a game that only John Harrison had previously attempted.

_She was using Starfleet's regulations against itself. _

"Dr. Marcus, what have you done?"

Khan's low, soft voice made her, in this less than composed state, screech and leap from the command chair before she realized that there communication line had never been terminated. This came at a great cost to her broken leg, which buckled immediately beneath her weight and caused her to topple onto the floor.

Embarrassed – for there was no doubt in her mind that Khan had heard this entire spectacle – and on the verge of palpitations from her impromptu betrayal of everything she held dear, Carol threw her hand over the kill switch on the communications console.

The coordinates had already been accepted by the computer. She wasn't entirely sure why she had saved a terrorist from his fate, but she was content on assuming it was mercy… although there was a part of her that knew it was something far darker within herself that had reached out to Khan. Regardless of her motivations, there was no turning back now.

"Warp 5 to target destination." She ordered, attempting to calm herself as a glacial blue glow illuminated the typically dark and menacing bridge. Gritting her teeth, she crawled towards a nearby set of steps and seated herself on them, deciding that she could verbally control just about every aspect of this ship now that Khan had overridden the need for clearance…

Her eyes widened as an apocalyptic fact dawned on her.

_She had made a terrible mistake._

"Show me Khan's cell!" she shouted, the hairs on the back of her neck rising in panic.

But the man had not broken out. He was standing, quite nonchalantly, in the center of his cell as if _waiting_…

She opened a line with his chamber and, as evenly as she could, stated, "I'm not certain if what I did was ethically right or even in the best interests of humanity, but you were condemned to death because my father found you. I only want to give you a chance a chance at the life you were robbed of."

His gaze fell directly on her, and he pursed his lips thoughtfully before replying, "Quite an elegant and selfless reason, my dear. But not the most truthful one."

His image on the screen grew larger as he stepped closer to the camera. Despite the fact that Carol was acting captain while he was confined in a transparent cell, Khan made her feel as if _she _was the one being interrogated. The balance of power in a room rarely worked against a man with an aura that could bring a cosmic body into orbit around him, and her position on the floor –_once again_ – was not helping her establish authority.

"My crew is one matter," he continued, tone developing an uncomfortably sultry edge. "Except for their connection to me, they have never committed a crime in their entire lives. But why did you spare _me_?"

_Why, indeed_, she thought acerbically.

"Because I have seen what losing everything does to men." Was her iron-like reply. "It makes them dangerous. It makes them blind. That's what losing my mother did to my father…" she informed, biting her lip before finishing, "It made him a _monster_."

"Oh, my _dear _doctor." He said ostensibly, glazing over an undercurrent of condescension. "Your faith in my humanity is undeniably uplifting. But now that I have seen the future and all the wonders it holds, I am reluctant to take up the life of a savage on a desolate planet. Surely, you understand."

She felt her blood begin to boil. Gratitude was a luxury she never expected, but outright _mocking_?

"I am done with your mind games and desire for others to _understand _your underlying psychosis. You are a fool if you don't accept the terms I am offering you, as the only other option is a swift death." She revealed dangerously.

"Ah, yes... I think I would prefer to discuss these terms in person, if you do not mind."

"I'd mind that very – " Before her very eyes, Khan's image on the screen vanished. A hollowing sensation began to spread through her body as she turned, ever so slowly, to face the entrance to the bridge.

"My cunning, Dr. Marcus." Khan said pleasurably, tossing the device he had likely used to project his hologram while regarding her dying sense of hope with a satisfied expression.

Carol didn't attempt to crawl away. Even if she could escape, facing her comrades and a court martial with this blight on her name would be a more painful death than anything Khan could do to her. Back straight, she watched him approach for as long as she could before hanging her head in shame.

"You did not appreciate my simple ruse?" he said with light spirits, kneeling so close to her that she could feel the heat emanating from his body.

She wrinkled her nose angrily before grumbling, "It wasn't just a trick. You wanted to give me a false sense of security so you could extract my true intentions."

"You can thank your father for that particular insight." He told her cruelly. "He used it many times against his prisoners… against _me_…"

"So is that it then?" Carol finally snapped, her wintry eyes locking onto his with contempt. "You still see me as a mirror of my father and you're going to continue exactly where you left off?"

Khan didn't answer her immediately. Instead, his fingertips began to stroke her injured leg, a soft look in his eyes as he replied, "You should be in great pain. The internal hemorrhaging is causing swelling and an over-release of histamine that should render you quite incapable of speaking."

"I'm a Starfleet officer," she fumed. "And I've faced much greater pains than those of the flesh."

"So you have…" remarked Khan, drawing closer to her just as Carol reached up and tightly grasped the console's railing.

"But that doesn't make the physical injuries of hated foes any less enjoyable." She added, causing his eyebrows to rise conspicuously even before a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. _"Shut down warp drive."_

The effects of her command were instantaneous. Even with her tight hold on the railing, her body still flew into the air before touching back down on the steps. Khan, however, was unprepared for the inertia of their sudden stop, and went soaring across the bridge.

She seized this chance to crawl desperately towards the console, barking commands all along the way.

"Send distress call to – "

"_Belay orders." _Roared Khan.

"Deploy rescue bea – "

"_Belay orders_." He cut in again, now simmering with rage.

"God damn you." She muttered numbly, beating her fist against the ground as a shadow consumed her form.

She heard the clicks and taps of him working quickly at the console before a hand placed itself on the small of her back, eliciting a gasp of apprehension on her part.

But a few seconds later, her spine remained intact. The hand, however, snaked around her abdomen, pulling her to her feet and supporting her weight.

"I am… conflicted." He said with false calm. She could feel his elevated pulse even through the hands that were pressed against her uniform.

After a grueling silence, Carol's curiosity finally got the best of her.

"Between what?

"Between two very distinct courses of action. Both of which you would find distasteful."

He didn't give her a moment to think before sweeping her off her feet and into his arms.

"I have already replaced your coordinates with my own. You will be needing the use of both legs once we arrive." He explained rigidly, carrying her into the elevator. He shifted all her weight to one of his arms briefly as he pressed the number for Medical Bay.

"Is this the course of action you chose? I'm not particularly against it."

Khan had a penchant for making her regret her words, pressing her bodily against the wall of the lift as it began to descend. His eyes, his _smothering blue _eyes, were fixed on her with an intensity she had never seen before. Even in the heat of battle.

"Are you _certain_ of that?" he asked her in a low, rich voice.

Carol didn't respond – _couldn't_ respond. Not when her own sentiments were undoubtedly more conflicted than her captor's. But as the doors parted and she was scooped up once again by his arms that could break her in two, she knew it wouldn't matter.

* * *

**A/N:** Khan is an expert at turning the tables. That's one thing that his original version and his reboot have in common. I do not have the next chapter written just yet, so any reviews that can give me some guidance are exceptionally appreciated.

I will likely start posting the dates for when I plan to update this and my other stories on my tumblr (lookoutapolarbear), and also post any unexpected delays there as well. Lastly, to all the anons that I cannot reply to directly, thank you very much for your reviews! I greatly appreciate the time and effort you've placed in this story's progression.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** So I lied on tumblr when I said this would be out by this evening. I got it done a bit earlier, and now I am on my way to watch an autopsy and perhaps read the Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock as I reconsider my choices in life. _Woohoo_.

* * *

Khan handled her frail bodily easily, laying her on the cold metal of an examination table in one fluid motion. She was pliant when in his grasp, but restless and fidgety when lying on her back, feeling immensely exposed and helpless beneath his hawk-like gaze.

"You need to lie still." Khan told her impatiently, reaching below the table to retrieve an IV packet and tubing. Carol wanted to obey, if only to show that she was the master of her own emotions, but the stabbing pain traveling up her leg was no longer being suppressed by fight or flight instincts. With just the motion of her breathing, she could feel the scrape of bone and the sting of enzymes trying to heal the damage to her blood vessels.

"_Carol_," he restated, placing a hand over her stomach. "Lie still."

His voice, his touch, was like morphine in her veins. Only it worked _faster_ and left her cheeks blushing crimson.

He took advantage of her calm immediately, inserting the IV needle into a vein just behind her knee.

"I will need to inflict a deep wound upon myself." he informed her, a scalpel appearing in his hand. "You may look away if it disturbs you."

"I've seen men turned into pink clouds before my very eyes, Khan." She grimaced at him, a drop of sweat racing down her face. "You may continue to underestimate me, but it will only work to your disadvantage in the end."

The man said nothing. He only watched her intently, even as the scalpel dug into his wrist and his lips pursed with discomfort. Tearing a slip on the crest of the IV bag, he held his injury over the clear fluid, allowing his wine red essence to drip into the bag until the gushing mark vanished, replaced by flawless skin once again.

Carol couldn't see what was happening to her leg, but it would have astonished her. Hell, it would have astonished the greatest minds of the century to witness how the bruising ebbed away like smoke from a fire and the outline of her bone began to take its original shape. All she felt was a tingling numbness spread from her knee to her ankle, one that faded once the repairs were complete.

On an impulse, she began to sit up, only to be pushed back down by nothing more than his fingertips on her shoulder.

"What _now_?" she hissed through gritted teeth.

He watched her closely as he spoke, monitoring every crease and movement on her face and body for even the slightest reason that he should place her in the closest air lock. "You are not an enigma to me, Carol Marcus, but I need to know that I can trust you to be in the presence of my crew."

"I have no reservations with your crew, _Captain_," she retorted spitefully. "But shall I remind you that it was _you _who was about to open fire on them because of your obsession with revenge. It was _you_ who cornered me on the bridge after I had just delivered you from an eternity in stasis and forced me to send you hurtling across the room out of self-defense. I may not be as strong as your kind," she said in a quieter, meeker tone. "But I am resilient. And you, for all the genetic superiority you've been granted, did not see what I saw in the cargo bay. _I _am the reason your crew still lives – not you."

There are not many arrangements of words or speeches that could render a former dictator and superhuman speechless, but Carol's eyes were just as tempestuous as her words. They held him motionless, flaring like a star on the verge of collapsing, until he extinguished it with nothing but a light caress on her cheek.

"Then you will be at my side as I revive them. Our destination is only minutes away now."

"I don't understand…" she began confusedly, though it may have been the rush of hormones that was causing her mind to misplace important facts. "Why are you waiting?"

His eyebrows rose exasperatedly as he turned and paced the room. "You obviously know little regarding the delicacies of 300 year old earthen technology. We will need a proper physician in the likely event that their resurrections come at great difficulty. My own heart stopped and my life nearly faded at the time of my revival."

"Then you're very fortunate that I decided against my plans to wake them." she said with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling.

Whatever she expected to happened at that moment, it did not include Khan's hand fisting around her collar, wrenching her from the table and onto her – _surprisingly functional_ – legs.

"Explain." He said in a deathly tone.

"When your crew was found to be missing and you fled from my father's base orbiting Jupiter, you thought that Admiral Marcus was going to find a way to remove your people from the weapons and then destroy every last one of them. He didn't. But _I _did." She revealed haughtily.

The meaning – the startling, _impossible _implication of her words made the very air between them heavy with tension.

"You honestly didn't know this? Even as you threatened to make me a stain on the floor, I always assumed that you knew about the role I played in delivering your crew out of the hands of my father." Carol tried to shake herself out of his grasp, but it was to no avail. "You're evidently not as smart as you think, Khan. I'm his _daughter_, I already knew about his secret schemes, and I _am _among the best weapons specialists than Starfleet has produced. Who did you think he was going to call into to inspect the torpedoes once he found out about your plans?"

When he merely stared at her with an unreadable expression, she decided to continue.

"I assigned myself to the Enterprise under a false name in order to continue to safeguard those you placed in the weapons. I was discovered by Commander Spock before I could disengage their torpedoes, which became unnecessary when Kirk went against his orders and captured you on Kronos..."

She was about to ramble on about her attempts to dissuade the Admiral from firing on the Enterprise, to protect her comrades and his people with her own life, but was interrupted by a quiet yet sonorous, "_Why_?"

Carol knew that he didn't care for morals or philosophy. He was searching for a _reason, _which was one thing she evidently lacked. "I don't know."

With a trill of surprise and disproval, she was thrown back onto the table, bouncing slightly from her impact with the metal. Khan's darkly dressed body followed her own, climbing over her and pinning her to the wall as she attempted to crawl away.

"Once was insanity, and I was poised to murder you despite your intervention. But _twice_." He hissed, spittle raining onto her hair. "Twice is such an incalculable probability that there must be an ulterior motive."

"I didn't – I _don't – "_

"What _are_ you, Carol Marcus?" he questioned, eyes flickering over her entire face as though it held some clue. "You gave me everything and, despite my abuses, committed treason in order to deliver them once again."

He was drawing close. _Too close._ But it was something else that was very, _very_ wrong. Carol couldn't pinpoint what it was until she looked down.

"What are you doing?" she gasped, the fog in her mind preventing her from noticing the hands travelling beneath her dress. Their softness belied the incredible destructive force they possessed, eliciting another sharp intake of breath as his fingers gripped her waist.

"_Tell me_," he muttered against her collarbone, leaving it moist with his breath. "Tell me what I should do."

But Carol was a woman of action. An elbow to the groin would have been her first response if she'd not been consumed by a noxious combination of hatred and lust. The resulting overflow made her primal instincts take charge as she, without even a trace of restraint, hungrily met his mouth with her own.

Khan was pushed backward by her tender form, if only a few inches, before leaning into her once again. Her unpredictability was skyrocketing with every turn, especially when she swayed her body to press harder against the hands that were roving over the curves of her body.

"You deem this wise?" he whispered against her lips, taking one between his teeth before she could reply. Carol's heart fluttered, and her head rolled back in bittersweet bliss. The warrior before her took advantage of her compromised defenses and pulled her knees around his abdomen, causing her to straddle him as his face roamed the valleys on her neck.

"I would deem it _extremely_ unwise." she said alongside a moan, just as her mind began reigning in her body's passions, slowing her breath and causing the heat in her veins to run cold. All she could hear now were the screams of hundreds of men and women as she watched the recording of the London bombings… and her vision was now obscured by her father's eyes, brimming with tears as the man he'd used as a weapon ended his life with ruthless intent…

She knew better than to struggle against Khan now that she had so willingly placed herself within his arms. Instead, she let her muscles go slack, and when his eyes met hers in confusion, he saw only a numbing coldness within them.

She expected rage. Lesser men would have reprimanded her fiercely for starting what she could never carry out, but _Khan_ was not like any man at all. He shifted away from her slowly, disliking the way his skin prickled when removed from her warmth, and stood beside where she knelt on the table.

"Dr. – _Carol,_" he corrected, the utter lack of confidence his words carried prompted her to look up at him in surprise. "I am sorry."

As if turned to stone by his words, Carol could only watch with aching breath as he leaned towards her, placing a kiss hesitantly against her cheek, before he turned and left the room in a blur of darkness and pale skin.

* * *

**A/N**: Oh my. Who _is _Carol Marcus? I may take that particular question a bit further (like what I did in What was Planted) or I may leave it be for some time. Any thoughts or opinions on the matter would be appreciated.

I wanted to be sure that Carol was not entirely submissive, but no one has complete control over their emotions. I see it many times in fanfiction, and I'm not particularly fond of one extreme being chosen over the other. And so the Carol Marcus you read in my stories is going to be _human. _As remarkable and intelligent as anyone is, passions are typically quite outside of our control, especially in a Stockholm sort of situation. That's what makes people so interesting, after all.

Thank you again for all your support! I enjoyed reading every review and greatly appreciate the feedback as I'm going into writing new chapters.


	5. Chapter 5

Carol's mind was reeling.

Not that it had ever _stopped_ reeling since Khan stormed aboard the _Vengeance _and laid waste to everyone else's suspicions of his humanity. She thought she had been deluding herself into sympathizing with him this entire time, and then… and then _that happened._

The first kiss was passion and fire, but the second one… it felt like water on burned skin, and she couldn't remember an apology more impactful than the one she just received from the murderer of her own father. _A terrorist_, she corrected. He'd killed many more men and woman far more innocent than the notorious Admiral she happened to share blood with. She tried not to dwell on it, closing her eyes to force the memory from her mind, but she only succeeded in making her skin recall just how soft his own had felt against hers…

Though left alone in the Medical Bay with nothing but her discomforting thoughts, Carol assumed that he had only given her space to collect his own scattered feelings. That, of course, rested on what Starfleet would consider the highly improbably scenario of him _having _feelings. But Carol slid to her feet from the table and decided that her priority on this ship should shift from escaping his clutches to keeping his murderous intent in check. Khan would likely have gone to the bridge; that was where she should go as well.

Her breathing was so heavy with tension that she could barely hear her boots clicking on the metal floor as she traveled towards Khan's location. When the doors of the bridge slid open before her, Carol had to shield her eyes from the deep red light enveloping the entire room.

"Where are we?" she questioned, eyes gradually adjusting from the dimness of the rest of the starship to the luminous interior of the bridge. Khan's body was a dark silhouette against the forward windows of the bridge, turning slowly to face her.

"The red dwarf Velskar III," he explained in an even tone. "We are in a tandem orbit with its only planetary body."

For a moment, the knowledge of what he intended to do seeped into her brain like a corrosive liquid, making her incapable of expressing her thoughts beyond the words, _"Jesus Christ – _not New Vulcan_."_

Her father's involvement in the discovery and colonization of a Vulcan settlement was part of the reason he found Khan and his crew drifting among the cosmos. Its location was a heavily guarded secret for the time, allowing the colony time to build defenses before exposing it to new threats. How Khan had discovered its location was a mystery to her, but likely had not even been a great challenge for the superhuman.

"As I expected, the Admiral did not stock with the Medical Bay with anything beyond basic life support. He did not intend to take on injured victims when he pursued the Enterprise." Khan told her, facing the star once again. "The red dwarf is obscuring our presence at the moment, but in order to achieve the proximity needed to beam aboard the planet's surface, we will expose ourselves to detection."

"There is quite literally _no way_ this will work." Deadpanned Carol, striding closer to him. "There isn't corner of Federation space not looking for this ship, and you think you can just beam down onto a planet full of Vulcans that escaped extinction and come back with supplies and a doctor?"

"And possibly weapons." Added Khan. Now that she was standing beside him, she couldn't miss the sardonic grin spreading across his face.

"I can't believe it," she groaned, dropping her head into her hands. "Actually, I'm perfectly capable of believing it. This sort of thing gets you excited, doesn't it?"

He didn't answer her directly, but a brief chuckle before he spun on heel, pressing a few buttons on the console, before heading towards the exit was damning enough.

"Follow me, my dear doctor." He requested, glancing over his shoulder at her. Carol felt that her boots had turned into lead at some point during their conversation, but grudgingly tailed him nonetheless.

"How are you planning to bypass security?" she hastily asked.

Again, no verbal answer. He merely twirled the phaser on his belt strap as they stepped into the transporter room.

"Don't you think it is unwise to leave the ship in the hands of someone of more than questionable loyalty?" Carol finally _had_ to inquire.

"I am leaving the ship in the most capable and trustworthy hands I know." He told her smoothly. But just as she began to smother the notion that he had been referring to her, steely arms picked her up and tossed her onto the platform.

She didn't have the opportunity to scream. The whirl of lights and the transient heat of being converted into energy and then back into matter within a span of seconds left her breathless and sprawled on the floor of a darkened closet of sorts. Khan's phaser rested atop her stomach.

"Stay where you are for a moment." Instructed the voice of Khan through the communicator in her badge. She lay there in angry silence until he spoke again. "Carol, please rise and move as quickly as possible into the adjoining corridor."

She complied, hissing profanities as she did. The corridor outside the broom closet he had transported her into was blindingly white, causing her to squint once again.

"Make a left and enter through a door labeled with cross inscribed within a circle." He continued, and this time she could have sworn she heard someone in the background.

She decided to save that question for later, pushing open the door with the appropriate symbol.

"It looks like a supply room." She reported, after a cursory glance around.

"Very good. Find a cart and place the items I indicate inside it."

Biting down on her lip, she searched the area for a cart, finding one in a shadowy corner. As she went to retrieve it, she detected movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Life signs thirty-five degree to your right. _Shoot it_." Even though his voice was low and restrained, it had the same effect as if she would have been yelled at by a giant. With a quick check to make sure her phaser was on stun, Carol fired her weapon precisely where Khan had described, watching as a tall body crashed to the ground with a wail of surprise.

"Do not stray from your task." He ordered, as though sensing her instinctive desire to check on the body. "I will read locations and you will obtain those supplies. Fourth cabinet from the door, third and fourth shelf."

Wordlessly, Carol followed his orders for several minutes, noticing the time only when her cart was close to full. Every second that went by caused a dip in her probability of escape, but she knew it would be impossible for the energy transports to distinguish between the floor and the cabinets at such as distance. Manually placing supplies in a prominent container was the only way of beaming it back aboard the ship.

"Stand away." He ordered suddenly, causing her to jolt away as though the cart had become electrified.

She watched as a glow of light resembling dozens of orbiting fireflies consumed the supplies, causing it to disappear before her eyes.

"There are currently no less than seven Federation starships heading towards this location at warp." He informed casually. "I would like to give you a choice, Carol Marcus. One that will be impossible to undo once it is made."

She felt her knees begin to wobble. Having a choice – an actual hand in her fate was not something she would have ever deemed as likely. She preferred adapting to her situations and using survival and ethics to excuse the reckless nature of her actions. To choose sides was never her desire…

"I may leave you here and report to Starfleet that you were coerced into my service, which will likely be sufficient evidence to allow you to retain your credentials and perhaps even your _honor_." He spat that last word. To a man of brute strength and villainous intellect, she reasoned, codes and guidelines were likely perceived as weaknesses rather than merits. "Or you may join me not as an officer, but as a fellow outcast."

She stood, seemingly frozen on the outside despite the veritable chaos going on within her mind, until she heard that smooth, accented voice speak again.

"I am certain that Captain Kirk will be pleased to see you." He assured her, meaning to come across as mocking. But Carol's prolonged exposure to this man allowed her to notice the hint of jealously that escaped into his tone, and it made her smile despite the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

With no small amount of remorse, Carol muttered, "Take me with you, Khan."

* * *

A/N: So I am fairly certain that robbing a hospital on New Vulcan is a scenario that is never going to happen in fanfiction history ever again. (Which is a shame because I had some serious _Firefly_ vibes writing this.)

After re-watching Wrath of Khan for more information regarding Carol Marcus, I can't seem to fathom why some fans adamantly ship Kirk with Carol. They had quite a tragic relationship according to canon... makes me feel monumentally better about shipping her with Khan, despite his obvious "quirks".

Please review if you have a chance. The amount and quality of the feedback I've been receiving has been instrumental in updating this story in a timely fashion. Thank you all very much!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: Longest chapter so far. Hopefully, this makes up for the delay in updating... I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"_Take me with you, Khan."_

Had Carol Marcus been in the vicinity of the darkly dressed augment as she uttered those words, her eyes would have witnessed a startling shift in his expression. It only lasted for a brief moment, but it was as unmistakably, _undeniably_ the transient presence of hope. One whose intensity rivaled the time he learned of the torpedoes that were locked onto his location on Kronos, inspiring him to believe that his crew had not perished after all.

She was beamed directly to the bridge. A shadow of a smile flashed across her face upon seeing Khan gazing at her from across the room with an unreadable expression. However, when her eyes followed his upraised arm, which was gripping a phaser, she felt a stone drop into the pit of her stomach.

"You must be Dr. Marcus," intoned the Vulcan doctor, his expression solemn despite the weapon pointed directly at his head. "The Starfleet officer who defected recently to side with a terrorist."

Surprisingly, it was not Carol who reacted to these words. Khan closed the few feet of space between himself and the Vulcan, ensnaring almost his entire neck with a single one of his hands.

"Khan, leave him be." She insisted, stepping towards them slowly. Her eyes fell first on Khan, who watched her with unnerving focus, before flicking towards the doctor. "There are seventy-two people that need to be revived. What is your name?"

"You may refer to me simply as 'doctor'." He replied hoarsely. "I do not want my name stained by the crimes I will be committing for the good of my people and the Federation."

"So I take it that my captain has given you a logical argument for aiding us?"

"If a bold-faced threat could be a logical argument, then yes." The Vulcan practically spat. "He _did."_

They were travelling at warp. To _where_ exactly, she could only guess, but it would only benefit them to have a more than minimal crew if the Starfleet or one of its allies were to somehow locate and intercept them. Nothing short of an army would bring down their ship. An army that Starfleet possessed and, unfortunately, might be willing to use.

"The pods and equipment necessary for your task has already been transported to the Medical Bay." Khan informed evenly, pushing the Vulcan towards the lift. "You know what the consequences of failure will be."

"My colleagues remain captive in your cells?" asked the doctor, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "_Alive_?"

Putting two and two together was simple enough for Carol, who spun on heel to glare at Khan as he drawled, "Yes, of course."

"You took more than one doctor from New Vulcan?" she deadpanned, gripping the bridge of her nose with exasperation.

"A necessary insurance." He replied simply. "If this one proves defective or if a single member of my crew is to perish, I will recruit another from the brig."

She wanted to argue, but questioning his command in front of a hostage would achieve little but direct his anger towards her. She merely nodded, following him wordlessly towards Med Bay and the seventy-two pods set atop the hospital beds.

Khan ordered the doctor to begin inspecting the supplies, still in the cart she'd use to transport them, waiting until he was just beyond earshot to mutter, "Why did you refer to me as your _captain?"_

She glanced at him wearily, hoping to infer an answer from his emotional state, but his expression was slate-like. The truth would have to suffice.

"Because I was in charge of this vessel for only a few minutes, but it is a responsibility I do not wish to have again." She started, her voice scarcely above a whisper. "But every ship needs a captain, and I have chosen to follow you. Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion is that you are my captain."

"I do not care for titles." He said offhandedly, yet she sensed an undercurrent of discomfort in his tone. "As I said before, Khan will be sufficient."

They worked in silence for some time after that conversation. Organizing the supplies took the better part of an hour. Afterword, the doctor, the augment captain, and Carol were huddled around the first pod.

"While stronger than most humans, I will point out that my crew is not capable of the same degree of regeneration that I am." Khan explained, his tone indicating that he did not want to reveal their weaknesses, but had no choice at this point. "I was created to be an obvious leader, both intellectually and in the more primal aspects as well."

"We'll just have to be careful then." She comforted, her eyes never leaving the face of the sleeping augment as the pod's seal was removed by the doctor. This act alone began the awakening process, but the Vulcan was taking no chances. There were wires connected to almost all major atrial and nervous input, and the doctor was adding minute quantities of stimulants into his circulation and other chemicals according to what his readings told him was lacking.

"He is stable." The doctor finally concluded, after several minutes of the tensest silence she'd ever endured. "I suggest that you speak to him, Mr. Khan, as recognition of a voice will considerably accelerate his brain functions."

Warily, Khan leaned close to the augment's ear, whispering words in a language she could not recognize. And, for the first time in hundreds of years, green eyes fluttered open.

One of the seventy-two members of his crew was now awake.

Carol distanced herself from the augments as they clamored back to consciousness after three hundred years of sleep, allowing Khan to speak to them privately as they awoke. Seven more men and women were revived without much ado… though, to be honest, she could never tell if a crew member's life was truly in danger. They would sometimes moan and gyrate during the process, but the doctor reacted so quickly and without emotion that there was no true way of determining if she'd just witnessed a human being on the brink of death.

She had to hand it to the Vulcan – he was _good._ And in terms of mannerisms, he was almost the complete opposite of the Dr. McCoy that had assisted her with the torpedoes on the Enterprise. He worked silently, efficiently, and almost never looks away from his patient.

Everything was going well… until they reached the ninth pod. It contained a woman with fiery red hair and distinctively Irish features. However, as they soon learned, it had possessed more than that.

"What's wrong?" asked Carol nervously, having just witnessed the doctor begin to connect vital sign monitors to the augment before suddenly removing them quickly and sealing the pod once again.

"This woman was put into a cryogenic sleep while pregnant." Remarked the doctor, a bead of sweat travelling down the rough skin of his face.

Khan must have noted the distress in their voices, rushing from the bedside of an awakened man to their pod and demanding, "What is wrong?"

"This woman carried an embryo that was gradually poisoned by certain elements of the cryogenic atmosphere." The doctor explained passionlessly. "It has since mummified, but the damage caused by its weight and obstructions it has caused are quite... severe."

"Can she be revived?" Khan questioned fiercely.

"Not without great risk." He replied. "There is no precedence for this case."

"_Carol_," thundered Khan suddenly, jolting her from unpleasant thoughts. "Please wait outside until I call for you."

Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion and she retorted, "Why? I only want to help."

"Yes, but if this Vulcan does not succeed with in his task," he intoned calmly. "I do not wish for you to witness anymore death today."

That revelation caused her body to feel hollow. Just when she was beginning to think he had left his savage nature behind, he threatens an innocent man with death for a situation beyond his control. A part of her wanted to argue – to scream her indignation at the superhuman. But violence would only draw out his homicidal rage even further. If she wanted to sway or manipulate him, she'd need to alter her tactics.

She stepped towards him, leaving only a paltry inch or two of distance between their respective bodies. Capturing his steely gaze with her own, she muttered dangerously, "Do not hurt this man, Khan."

"I will do," he rumbled lowly. "What I must."

"Then you _must _not murder a man who has performed miracles on eight other members of your crew."

"There are others who can take his place."

Biting her lower lip briefly, she brought out the final remains of her arsenal –

"Then do it for me." She pleaded. "Do it because I do not want to believe that I am following an animal into the darkness of space."

Sensing that her eyes were beginning to water, Carol turned on the spot and strided towards the door. Once she heard it close behind her, she fell to her knees, taking her face into her hands.

"Oh God, what have I done…" she hissed under her breath. She was foolish – _stupid _to believe that she was helping a righteous cause. After several minutes, she sat cross-legged on the ground, her back against the wall of the corridor. Her senses were in overdrive, attempting to pick up any signs of either success or… she shuddered at the alternative.

Just as her mouth parted open to sigh, she heard a sound that caused her heart to plummet. A phaser. Someone had just fired a _phaser_.

She leapt to her feet and scrambled towards the door. She had braced for the worst outcome, and she had hoped for the best. But what she witnessed was neither of those scenarios.

The red-haired woman was clutching a gun in her hand, struggling vainly against Khan's hold. The doctor was preparing a syringe of what she assumed was a sedative, plunging it into her arm. The augment blinked several time, fighting the inevitable sleep that took hold of her one again.

Carol wasn't prone to narrating the obvious, but something within her burned to hear it said aloud.

"Did one of your crew just _attack_ you?" she questioned as pleasantly as possible.

"_I do not wish to discuss it_." He said hotly, turning his head towards the Vulcan. "Continue, doctor. I cannot guarantee your life until the rest of my crew is alive and well."

And with that, Khan returned to the rest of his awakened crew, his anger ebbing as he spoke once again to his people.

The compassion he was capable of exuding was truly a sight to behold. However cold and calculating he had been towards the Federation, he now had equal degrees of empathy and warmth. She was tasked with watching the doctor, and she did so quite diligently. But, out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but revel in the happiness this seemingly cold-blooded machine was displaying. She'd caught glimpses of it before, but now it was like staring at her like the sun.

"Dr. Marcus, may I have a word, please?"

The doctor's request made her straighten up with attention. Attempting to maintain an air of authority, she gave him a short nod.

"I do not mean to elicit an emotional response from you, but I am curious as to why you chose to return to this ship."

Carol shrugged noncommittally. "I don't believe you would understand it, doctor."

"Unless it is truly convoluted, I am actually quite certain I will." He insisted politely. Sighing, Carol decided it was better _not_ to argue with a Vulcan.

"I enlisted at Starfleet after my mother was killed by a common thief." She began quietly. "I wanted to learn how to protect those I loved. I discovered, quite by accident really, that weaponry and designs came intuitively to me. The thesis I submitted on long-range missiles is what partially inspired my father to pursue the research that would eventually…" she had to swallow hard in order to continue.

"Well, it would eventually kill him. Under my father's orders, John Harrison – who we now know as Khan – turned my theories into a reality. I thought he was there willingly, but there was this one time when I looked at him and saw such incredible pain in his eyes." Her voice became distant as she recalled the experience first-hand. "When I was asked to inspect one the torpedoes he created, I nearly revealed to my father that there were people inside of them. But I remembered that pain, doctor." She told him tigerishly. "I remembered it, and I knew it was the pain of a man who had just forfeited everything he held dear. So swore to myself that I would protect those people. And I _have_."

"So you are here not because of _him_," remarked the doctor. "But because of them?"

She shook her head thoughtfully. "I suppose, in some small way, I'm also here because Khan is the only weapon in this universe I don't fully understand. The only one that's _worth_ understanding. Starfleet can only teach me so much about protecting those I love because its rules and regulations don't take into account the lengths that a human is willing to go in the name of family and home. But Khan _does_. So I suppose," she said in a conclusive tone. "That's why I'm still here."

"You were correct, Dr. Marcus." Said the doctor, causing her to believe for a second that he agreed with her decision. "Not a word of that made sense to me."

Deflated, Carol allowed the next hour to go by without saying another word to the Vulcan. Vaguely, she began to wonder what time it was on Earth as her back began to hunch and her eyelids drooped. She was beginning to have trouble remaining on her stool when a hand touched her shoulder. It would have startled her in any other circumstance, but her reactions were significantly dulled.

"You are in need of rest." Noted the voice of Khan.

"There's still twelve more pods to go. I'll be –" she yawned unintentionally, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Fine. _I'm fine._ Never been better."

"If you do not let me walk you to your room," he told her softly, smoothing her hair with his hand. "I will have to carry you there instead, my dear. So shall we?"

Grudgingly, she stood up on wobbly legs and began to follow closely beside him. It was easy to get lost in these dim hallways, but she felt – astonishingly – safe with him as her guide.

"Your discussion with the Vulcan was rather intimate." He pointed out, observing her out of the corner of his eye.

"They have big ears." She mumbled through her exhaustion. "Makes them good listeners."

It didn't occur to her right away that the doctor might not have been the only one in the room with sensitive ears. But when the meaning of his words dawned on her, Carol began sputtering, "You heard all of that? I didn't really mean it… I mean, I – "

He didn't silence her outright, but the hand on her waist that pushed her gently towards the wall was more than effective at causing her entire body to become rigid.

"First you refer to me as your captain," he mumbled against her hair, his breath sending chills down her spine. "Now I am your weapon?"

The laughter that followed confused him, but Carol was quick to explain.

"You're neither of those things."

His eyes watched her carefully as she pressed her forehead against his chest, her eyes closing wearily.

"You are… _my Khan_."

Carol's mind thankfully slipped into unconsciousness shortly after she'd spoken those words. Had she seen the feral, mischievous gleam in his eyes, she may never have fallen asleep again.

* * *

**A/N**: To my followers - thank you so much for supporting this story. Whether or not you review, I hope this had been enjoyable so far and I am relishing all the amazing feedback. It looks like we're only a chapter or two away from the conclusion of this story, so please let me know any thoughts/opinions/suggestions.

I also have a Khan/OC in the works. If you like that sort of pairing, feel free to add me to your alerts or keep an eye out for '**Blood of the Enemy**'.

Again, thank you all so much. *suppresses urge to say _live long and prosper_*


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** I apologize for the delay. This chapter teeters on a more mature rating, but not quite. But be forewarned that while it may have taken me a few drafts, things get a bit… heated.

* * *

In the darkness of a small room, blue eyes flew open.

Carol awoke dizzily, sitting up in her bed faster than her brain could handle. While her muscles felt rested, her mind was still reeling from the images that it had just struggled to process. Much of it, she felt, was too surreal to have actually happened…

Her clothes were beyond the term 'wrinkled' once she finally rose from the bed. She couldn't recall for the life of her the events immediately leading up to her falling asleep, but she _did _remember a revealing conversation with a Vulcan doctor... not to mention the concern etched in Khan's voice when he asked her to retire to bed.

Stumbling to the bathroom, Carol found a uniform set out for her – the typical charcoal on steel blue coloration of the Starfleet Black Ops. She wondered vaguely if it had been laid out intentionally or if this was the typical setup in most of the bedrooms.

_Doesn't_ _matter_, she concluded, sliding out of her current outfit to shower before changing into the new one.

Her senses were still groggy, but she didn't delay in slipping outside her door and searching for signs to indicate that everything that had happened in the hours leading up to her spiral towards unconsciousness was _not_ just a wild dream. This evidence presented itself much faster than she expected, as she passed by the windows overlooking Engineering and saw… _well._

At least twenty or thirty men and women were down there, toiling away beneath tremendous machines or concentrating on computer screens. Some of them were in clothes very similar to hers, but others wore a golden, loose-fitting outfit that she recognized from the archives as the symbol of royalty in Khan Noonien Singh's empire. They were augments, just like _him_.

"Dr. Marcus!" piped up a female voice, causing her thoughts to go scuttling in all directions as she jumped, ever so slightly, in surprise.

The speaker was a very thin, remarkably tall woman of Asian descent. She was dressed like a mirror or Carol, only with large utility gloves on her hands.

"The captain would like to speak to you on the bridge" She stated evenly. "And I would like to thank you personally for your efforts to save us and our leader."

"Oh," Carol replied, dumbfounded as the woman bowed graciously. "It was no problem. Thank you for letting me know."

She walked away quickly, analyzing that conversation over and over in her mind until she reached her destination.

The doors of the elevator parted, and Khan stood at the center of the bridge. But he was not alone.

"Carol," he said pleasantly, turning to face her as she approached. "I see you are well rested."

"Yes, thank you." She replied, her gaze wandering to the new faces.

"These are my most tried and trusted friends." He explained, as each of the five crew members rose from their seats to greet her.

Khan provided her with names, their new position on the ship, and sometimes a brief anecdote on their history during the Eugenics Wars. They all seemed like very normal men and women… hardly power-hungry and mad, despite the impression their leader had instilled.

"I must say that I am surprised." She told him confidence once they left the bridge to continue their conversation down the long, dimly lit corridors of the Dreadknought ship.

"Surprised?"

"That I wasn't treated with resentment by those of a superior blood."

A regular human may have shrugged, but Khan replied with confidence, "Some are intentionally bred to be superior, others unintentionally. You are merely the latter."

"They refer to you as their captain." Her pace began to slow, and soon they were at a standstill in the hallway. "I thought you didn't like the title?"

"To you, _Carol_ Marcus, I am only Khan." He told her, beginning to gently stroke the hair just above her ear.

This behavior perplexed her. Admittedly, this was quite typical of most of his actions, but she couldn't help but feel that she was missing something very important.

"May I ask what has happened since I fell asleep?"

"Only a few tedious errands."

That could have meant anything from cleaning the starship's windows to declaring war on the Klingon Empire. Thankfully, Khan elaborated:

"We intercepted a few cargo vessels and support vessels hailing from Starfleet. Currently, we are attempting to retrofit parts to give these new ships advanced warp capabilities."

"Excuse me… let me make sure I heard this correctly…" she put in tensely. "You essentially pirated ships and supplies from Starfleet outposts and cited it as _tedious errands_?"

"Very tedious." He sighed. "I designed this vessel to be a warship, but it seems that its incredible speed and responsiveness make it ideally suited to a life of interstellar piracy."

"That hardly seems like an adequate replacement for the empire you had in mind."

"All in good time, my dear." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "We have the capacity to travel independently for decades without need of fuel or cargo, but my gradual efforts will be to build a fleet with which we can defend ourselves from external forces that mean to harm us."

"Defend or conquer?" she interrogated. "There is an important distinction between the two."

"You have trusted me to this point, my dear," pointed out Khan, stepping closer and lifting a hand to her face. "You have seen that I am capable of restraint. Though, in all probability, you diminish your role in my developing sense of empathy."

"That's flattering and all, but it's far more likely that the presence of your crew, alive and well, has allowed you a break from the anxious psychosis that was affecting your decision-making."

"That is a cogent argument you present." He admitted. "Incorrect, but almost believable."

She wanted to roll her eyes, but it might detract from her case. "And what about the doctors from New Vulcan?"

"As you can clearly see from the communications record," he ceased tracing her cheek to activate a panel set against the wall. "I placed them in secure pods and then launched those at a habitable planet near the Vesta Sector. Starfleet was hailed as to their location, although the beacons with them should have proven sufficient."

She furrowed her brows as she scrolled down the logs. "There's also something here about _me_. What was Captain Kirk doing so far beyond the neutral zone?"

"Your presence on New Vulcan was reported by the man you stunned in the supplies closet. The only plausible explanation for Kirk's subsequent behavior is a sort of god-complex he develops regarding those he considers part of his crew."

Carol had to exercise every measure of restraint to keep herself from laughing outright at that statement. "You are _truly_ one to talk."

"Be that as it may," he scoffed. "We do not have to fear from him or Starfleet. Our current technology far surpasses theirs, and our ability to innovate will maintain that considerable distance."

"So we finally have a chance to breathe."

"Among…" the glimmer in his pale blue eyes was now distinctly predatory. "_Other_ things."

It began as a hand on her waist and a smoldering look in the eyes of the augment. Then, all at once and far too quickly, she was hoisted against the wall, his lips moving against hers like those of a starving man.

The last kiss they shared was ecstasy, to say the least. But this was raw passion, unfiltered by barriers of distrust. Carol knew that she _wanted_ this man. Not just because of the enticing physicality of him, but the cunning he possessed that kept her spinning on her tiptoes in an effort to keep up.

In all honesty, she relished the challenge he presented. The warmth and passion he was capable of showing was like a magnet to her own. And now that she was caught in its pull, Carol was unable to stop the attraction.

"This is _highly_ inappropriate." She said in between breaths, slipping her hands beneath the soft fabric of his shirt, dragging her nails in a way that made him moan against her cheek.

"I can imagine situations _far_ more inappropriate." He responded huskily, taking her ear lobe between his teeth, savoring the sharp sound of her pleasure.

"Brilliant man," came her defiant response. "I can do more than imagine."

He growled at her challenge, pleasantly taken aback by the way it made his blood race and heart pound in manner that skirmishes and savagery never could. The object of his attention was taking quite the dominant role, her back arching so that her head was above his and her hands finding unique roads from the flesh of his chest into his trousers.

He changed that rather decisively, pushing her hips against his, causing her to gasp in surprise as his bulge attempted to invade her through their clothing. She felt him smile against her neck and he teased it with bites and kisses alike, before scooping her into his arms breathlessly.

"Where are we going?" she asked hoarsely, as they passed many suitable rooms.

"A special chamber I created." He answered quickly, sliding open a section of the wall to reveal a place made almost entirely transparent, showcasing the nebulas and cosmic beauty around them like a moving painting.

"That you created for this purpose?" she asked suspiciously, eying the large bed.

"Oh, Carol, _Carol, _always with the speculation." He drawled. "I only _recently_ had it outfitted for this purpose."

Before he could set her on the bed, she was clutching to his shoulders, trailing nibbles down his neck before settling her mouth over his.

"_Khan_." Was all she had to utter to make the torture unbearable. To make clothing fall and fabric tear as their moans echoed in the abyss of space.

He would have her first… if she _let_ him.

* * *

**A/N:** Fan fact: Initially, I had Khan play it is bit kinky and kick everyone out of the bridge to have Carol there. Then I realized that was better left for a one-shot later on…

I apologize that this took AGES to write. As you might have noticed from my profile, some other fandoms came knocking insistently at my door. Before tearing it down and forcing me to write in order to receive bread and water. Good news though to Sherlock fans: there is now officially a fanfiction of John and Sherlock handcuffed to a bed in space.

When this story is complete (which should be by next chapter!), I think my inner fandemon will finally be sated.


End file.
